ERWIN — Unicoi County Sheriff Mike Hensley said the outcome of arrest could have been much worse for a Roan Mountain man taken into custody earlier this week after he allegedly picked the wrong group of hikers to attempt to take hostage.
Marcus F. Birchfield, 40, 962 Hampton Creek Road, Roan Mountain, was arrested by the Unicoi County Sheriff’s Department and charged with four counts of aggravated kidnapping, impersonating a police officer, going armed, possession of a schedule II drug and possession of drug paraphernalia.
It was a little before midnight Monday when Hensley said Unicoi County 911 received a call stating an individual was holding several hikers hostage at the Beauty Spot lookout on Unaka Mountain. Hensley, who took the call, said the caller stated the man had approached the group of five hikers with a handgun drawn, told them that he was a game warden, and ordered them to get down on their hands and knees. The 911 call, Hensley said, came from one of the hikers allegedly being taken hostage.
Read the full story on the Johnson City Press website.

If you do decide to get the carry permit, I would recommend also taking a defensive shooting class of some sort. I spent about 11 years total in the Army/Army National Guard, saw a little combat. I was infantry for 4 years active and an MP for the rest of the time in the guard. It takes a lot of training (practice and understanding) to react to a situation like that without getting your brains blown out, or worse yet, someone else injured that shouldn't be. Know, who, what when, where, how and why to use your weapon and you won't get that in a carry permit class most of the time.

If you do decide to get the carry permit, I would recommend also taking a defensive shooting class of some sort. I spent about 11 years total in the Army/Army National Guard, saw a little combat. I was infantry for 4 years active and an MP for the rest of the time in the guard. It takes a lot of training (practice and understanding) to react to a situation like that without getting your brains blown out, or worse yet, someone else injured that shouldn't be. Know, who, what when, where, how and why to use your weapon and you won't get that in a carry permit class most of the time.

Good advice

Personally I have no desire to carry a gun in the park. Typically people aren't willing to hike in to rob you, etc. And your chance of having one of these situations happen to you are pretty remote. Kind of like carrying bear spray. I never hear post or comments from tourons on how they are scared of bees - even though they are 20 times more likely to kill you.

I go to the park to relax and get away. If I was carrying a gun, I would have to keep a different mind set, and that's enough of a reason not to carry for me.

Plus I know of 2 situations(Out of 1500+ outing) I was in that if I had a gun I well may have been justified to use it, but not sure of how my life would have turned out if I had. Even if you were completely justified I would think the psychological effects of the aftermath woukld be a burden to carry. With calm words and sometimes letting the crazies be dominant most situations can be diffused.

I'm in no way against people carrying guns, but also smart enough to know that most with carry permits do not have the knowledge and training to use them in a way that makes things safer, and has the potential to make things much worse.

And the robbery on Foothills parkway seems to have been planned or something, so it wasn't random, and in the Erwin case, it seems the cell phone was just as good, or even better, than a gun

Most of the time a person would have to be on the look out for these situations (which hardly any of us are). Usually by the time you notice a person has a weapon, they are so close it's difficult to get to your weapon in time. I do carry though, just not in the park. Nothing wrong with it. I just think that more than a permit class is needed. Do you know the proper grip? Center mass or head shot? What is the difference between cover and concealment? What is the maximum effective range of your weapon? One roiund down range or empty the clip? Why? Is the guy "near" or "far" and what are these distances? There are a ton of other questions. Others know much more than I do. Seek them out and learn from them.